Island Stories 2017 / Lauritse Farm, Boge

Architect Maria Lyth’s parents bought the Lauritse farm in the North-East of Gotland in 1960, where Maria grew up close to nature. She now lives in Malmö with her family, but returns to the farm as often as she can during holidays and weekends, where the family is helped by friends and neighbours to keep sheep and grow rye and wheat, which is eventually ground into flour.

Gotland’s meadows and fields have to be raked for foliage. In the local dialect of Gotland, this is called Fagas. This is done in the spring and again after midsummer, when the grass has grown up. This serves to preserve the unique flora for which Gotland is known.

– I love the contrast between my professional life as an architect at Wingårdhs and the Lauritse family farm here in Boge. Life stands still as soon as you land on Gotland and your breathing suddenly assumes a different, more gentle rhythm. Everything is right here, but on other terms than those I encounter within my professional capacity.

– My father has run a small-scale organic farm in the surrounding fields since the 1970s. Nowadays, we are doing our best to maintain that ­tradition with the help of our friends and neighbours. This means that areas and crops which would otherwise disappear on a larger farm can continue their ­existence here at least for a while. Hopefully it can eventually become something that can be translated into organic and economic sustainability.